10 exciting callbacks with Ganondorf in Tears of the Kingdom

It’s been seventeen years since we’ve seen Ganondorf in a canon Zelda game, and while the wait was long and arduous, Tears of the Kingdom was definitely worth it. Being a sequel to Breath of the Wild, Tears of the Kingdom shares many traits with its sibling, which include telling the narrative in a nonlinear format to its audience. While this format might seem confusing to players who are accustomed to the more linear formats of previous Legend of Zelda games, it is best to interpret the narrative of Tears of the Kingdom as a glorious tapestry that celebrates the entire series across the decades. Like a generational quilt sewn together from pieces of fabrics from the past, this narrative speaks through the landscape of Hyrule itself in a combination of present in-game events, memories, archeology, geology, and even the music in Tears of the Kingdom. Much like its predecessor, Tears of the Kingdom presents us with a mountain of hidden treasures in its lore, but like the Hero of the Wild, it is up to the player to pick up their fused hammer to mine it out and process the wealth of information for themselves.

This narrative that echoes through the eras of Hyrule is also true with Ganondorf’s story, to which the developers have taken great passion and care to weave. Impa was not jesting in the least when she stated in the Breath of the Wild trailer that “the history of Hyrule is also the history of Calamity Ganon,” and that history begins with an ambitious Gerudo King. Ganondorf’s tale in Tears of the Kingdom is not only ominous in a very good way, it’s honestly a marvelous tribute to our favorite Gerudo villain in the whole series. Let’s take a closer look at the exciting connections from the past one can find with Ganondorf in Tears of the Kingdom.

Spoiler Warning:
The rest of this article contains significant spoilers for Tears of the Kingdom about the story, gameplay mechanics, etc. that you might not wish to see. Continue reading at your own risk.

10. A Royal Audience with an Agenda

One of the cutscenes in Tears of the Kingdom features a curiously familiar scene to Zelda fans. It’s an obvious nod that’s almost on the nose to the scene in Ocarina of Time when the young Link and Zelda spy on Ganondorf through the courtyard window. This time, however, we get to witness the adult side of the conversation in the throne room between Ganondorf and Rauru, and voice-acted, no less. There are fascinating Easter Eggs in this cutscene, too. Have you spotted them all?

9. Pulling the Puppet Strings

There’s something strange that’s happened to Princess Zelda, and it seems to be connected with ethereal visions of her across the kingdom. Things start to get fishy, however, when Link gathers eyewitness accounts of the fair royal acting rather off kilter. He eventually encounters the phenomenon for himself and realizes that his beloved Zelda is actually not Zelda at all. She is a Puppet controlled by Ganondorf, a clear callback to his puppet shenanigans in The Wind Waker and Twilight Princess. What’s different about this Puppet Zelda is that the motive is not to intimidate Link, but to beguile him. She is an almost exact replica of the real Princess that seems so real, it catches many poor souls off guard.

8. Master of Illusions

Once Link and his friends start putting the pieces together and head straight for the Hyrule Castle ruins, they encounter marvelous but disturbing sights. First, the Sanctum is seemingly restored to its former glory in Breath of the Wild with a flick of a wrist. Then, the true mastermind, Ganondorf, appears from afar in his spooky mummy-like form. He inflicts them with a frightening vision of his prowess as the Demon King before he retreats to restore his full power in the darkest Depths. All of these magical marvels are a great callback to Ganondorf casting powerful illusions in The Wind Waker that are potent enough to undoubtedly seem real.

7. To Kill a Sage for Gains

For the first time ever players actually get to witness Ganondorf killing a character on screen in Tears of the Kingdom. The scene is quite chilling, but this is certainly not the only instance in the series that a Sage becomes his victim. The Wind Waker recounts the terrible fate of the Sages Fado and Laruto through a lot of dialogue, and Twilight Princess shows the allegorical killing of a nameless Sage by the captured Ganondorf breaking free from his chains before he is hurriedly sentenced to the Twilight Realm by the rest of them. 

6. A Whole New Dark World

The Depths is an underground wonderland that opened up in Hyrule thanks to the geological turmoil from the Upheaval. It’s spooky and entirely new to us, but it does share some interesting parallels to the Dark World from A Link to the Past. It seems that Ganon feels quite at home in both of these underworlds. While the Pyramid of Power might not be in the Depths, the latter is where Link confronts the Demon King in his gloomy throne room in the heart of the Depths itself.

5. The Cutscene Before the Fight

Nintendo definitely did not hold back when it came to showing off their newest version of Ganondorf. The entire cutscene before the final battle gives players plenty of time to appreciate his authentic Gerudo design, and it executes exciting callbacks to his fiery confidence from Ocarina of Time. His hand slamming down to the ground in a maelstrom of magic is a nice nostalgic touch for the occasion. 

4. And Honestly, the Entire Fight

The heart-pounding concoction of new and old continues as Link advances his epic duel with Ganondorf. The flow of the fight between them even looks like a piece of art, much like their deadly dance in The Wind Waker. There is a long phase where the Sages join into the fray for the first time in the series too, which is something that Ocarina of Time players have always dreamed of. Thanks to the Switch’s remarkable processing system to handle multiple characters in real-time combat (more than what The Wind Waker and Twilight Princess could do, to be precise), that dream can finally become a reality. 

3. Fast and Furious Weapon Prodigy

Video game technology has come a long way, and Nintendo makes full use of it with Ganondorf’s sophisticated combat style. An expert warrior in his own right, Ganondorf demonstrates full command of blades, magic, and even archery in Tears of the Kingdom. His tank-like build and torrential offense style makes landing a hit challenging but satisfying. This specific fight style hails multiple callbacks from The Wind Waker and Twilight Princess. He even pulls off the same parry move that Link learned in Breath of the Wild. 

2. Ganondorf’s Soundtrack 

There’s a good reason why Tears of the Kingdom was nominated for Best Soundtrack by The Game Awards. Ganondorf’s battle movement does not disappoint and it absolutely does justice for the infamous Gerudo. It begins with telling the rise of an ominous, formidable warlock king as Link’s opponent in the first phase. Then, in a moment of suspense, the silence bursts into a gorgeous orchestrated rendition of Ganondorf’s boss music from Ocarina of Time for the second phase. Just when you think you’ve heard everything you possibly could, the movement laces in Calamity Ganon’s theme like golden silk, a phenomenal callback to the horrifying result of his dark ambitions in Breath of the Wild. From beginning to end, the entire movement does a fantastic job describing Ganondorf’s personality and character arc through music. And there’s more. You simply have to listen to it for yourself — if you can stop fighting him, that is.

1. The Final Curtain Call

Once he is finally defeated, Ganondorf commits one more (and very dramatic) act of desperation out of sheer hate and spite towards Link. It’s a major callback to his despicable attitude toward Link and Zelda in the endings of Ocarina of Time and The Wind Waker. There’s also an astonishing resemblance to Calamity Ganon that happens here that even catches our Hero of the Wild off guard. It’s probably best to not say exactly what that resemblance is just yet, but if you know, you know.